China - Love Cutting

Portraits of Chinese Hairdressers

"China - Love Cutting" is a series of images of Chinese hairdressers and the place where they live, a dialogue between public image and the private sphere. The project was photographed in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, far from Beijing and Shanghai. This rapidly-expanding economic in western China has around 14 million inhabitants, most of whom originally come from the countryside.
Each portrait shows a young hairdresser who moved to Chengdu in search of new employment opportunities. Jobs that offer accommodation are particularly prized by the new arrivals. If a employer offers a room or a bed in their own home, it is often shared with other members of the staff. These young workers can spend many years living like this before being able to afford their own homes.
(According the latest demographic census in China, the percentage of urban population just passed over 51% in January 2012)

Yang Wei

Yang Wei's interior

Yang Wei's Gold fish aquarium. Wei will become a father in a few months. He lives wiht his wife in a well-maintained apartment on the fourth floor of a small building with no elevator.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Lu Chao

Lu Chao's and Chen Yi's interior

One bed for two. Chao and Yi sleep in the entrance hall of the apartment belonging to the owner of the Lucky Hair Salon. The place is huge but every room is rented out. Overwhelmed with work, they only had a few minutes to show us the place.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Yang Hao

Yang Hao's interior

The owner of the Duke Stylish Salon lives with his employees in an apartment in the suburbs of Chengdu. Hao has is own room with a balcony. He only travels home to see his family once a year, but he sends them money regularly.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Deng Haibo

Deng Haibo's interior

Two other employees share the room with Haibo. Newspapers cover the windows to create a little shade and privacy for the room, which is on one of the city's liveliest streets. Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Chuan Xin Zeng

Chuan Xin Zeng's rooftop

View from the rooftop. A few months were enough to convince Xin Zeng that he did not like his new job. He left the Flower Vine Image Design Salon to work nights as a waiter in a Chengdu gay bar.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Wang Yuan Meng

Wang Yuan Meng's interior

A steep staircase leads to a tiny space just above the hair salon. Meng shares with eight other employees this blind room in which a kitchen has been installed.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Yi Bo

Yi Bo's building

Like his colleague Xin Zeng, Bo made the decision to change his job. He left Chengdu to return to his birthplace, a hundred of kilometres north of the capital city.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Jia Yue

Jia Yue's interior

Yue just started working a the Metropolitain Art Salon. Her main job is washing hair. Her employee does not want us to visit the dormitory where Yue lives, not far from the salon. She points out this pink-tiled building.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Yu Yan

Yu Yan's interior

Yan has been working in Chengdu for four years. He rents a room in the apartment shared by employees of the Only Beauty salon. A dozen of his colleagues share three other rooms arranged in dormitory-style.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Zhang Liang

Zhang Liang's alley

Liang is renting a small apartment with his sister in a popular area. Access is via an entrance portal closely monitored by a concierge.
Constituting the core of large blocks, these neighborhoods are often invisible at first glance.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Jin Shan

Jin Shan's interior

After three years working in a salon in Beijing, Shan decided to return to Sichuan to be closer to her family.
This experience will enable her to reach a position of responsibility in "New Dawn Salon".
She shares the dormitory with her colleagues: they envy her position.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Chen Feng

Chen Feng,'s interior

Feng knows several words of English. The salon where he works is in the middle of a renovation. Awaiting completion, he spends his time in a small room which he rents from his employer. Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.

Hu Qilin

Hu Qilin's interior

Qilin is living with his girlfriend in a small room. It is located in the basement of an appartment rented by a family. A plastic vine is deorating the ceiling.
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, April 2012.